1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to tissue morcellation and, more specifically, to minimally invasive tissue morcellators, morcellation systems, and tissue morcellation methods, which can be used for partial or total removal of body tissue or organs.
2. Description of Related Art
In minimally invasive surgical procedures, operations are carried out within the body by using elongated instruments inserted through small entrance openings in the body. The initial opening in the body tissue to allow passage of instruments to the interior of the body may be a natural passageway of the body, or it can be created by a tissue-piercing instrument such as a trocar, or by a small incision into which a cannula is inserted.
Because the tubes, instrumentation, and any required punctures or incisions are relatively small, the surgery is less invasive as compared to conventional surgical procedures in which the surgeon is required to cut open large areas of body tissue. Therefore, minimally invasive surgery minimizes trauma to the patient and reduces patient recovery time and hospital costs.
Minimally invasive procedures may be used for partial or total removal of body tissue or organs from the interior of the body, e.g. myomectomy, nephrectomy, cholecystectomy, lobectomy, and other procedures including thoracic, abdominal, laparoscopic, and endoscopic procedures. During such procedures, it is common that a cyst, fibroid, myoma, tumor, or other affected tissue or organ needs to be removed via the access opening or through a cannula. Various types of entrapment devices have been disclosed to facilitate this procedure. In many procedures where cancerous tumors are removed, removal of the specimen in an enclosed environment is highly desirable to inhibit seeding of cancer cells (i.e., portions of cancer cells contacting healthy tissue).
Several minimally invasive surgical procedures require the bulk removal of body tissue or organs through a limited surgical opening. As such, the tissue needs to be morcellated within the body cavity into smaller pieces of tissue to facilitate removal with laparoscopic graspers or tenaculums through minimally invasive access ports or the morcellation tool itself. Examples of such tissue morcellation are found in myomectomies, laparoscopic nephrectomies, splenectomies, or laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomies.
In laparoscopic cases for bulk removal of tissue, it is advantageous to morcellate the tissue into large tissue segments, rather than small tissue breakups, which then can be removed in very few extraction steps. Apart from time savings, the removal of large tissue segments, rather than small tissue chips, also reduces the chance of cross-contamination with malignant or cancerous tissue. Specifically for the example of laparoscopic supra-cervical hysterectomies, it is advantageous to morcellate the severed uterus along the surface of the fundus (generating a continuous tissue peel), rather than to repetitively core into the bulk of the uterus (generating a multitude of tissue chips).
During morcellation, the opened jaws of the grasper or tenaculum may damage the edge of the cutting blade during manipulation, dramatically reducing its effectiveness and life.